Inking systems for printing machines



Nov. 7, 1961 P. H. NEWMAN ETAL 3,007,407

INKING SYSTEMS FOR PRINTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 18, 1960 Nov. 7, 1961 P. H. NEWMAN EI'AL 3,007,407

mime SYSTEMS FOR- PRINTING MACHINES Filed March 18, 1960 2 Sheets$heet 2 nited States Patent 3,007,407 INKING SYSTEMS FOR PRINTING MACHINES Pete Henry Newman, Kew Gardens, and David Christopher Camps, Long Ditton, England, assignors to Thomas De la Rue & ompany Limited, London,

England, a company of the United Kingdom Filed Mar. 18, 1960, Ser. No. 16,089 Claims priority, application Great Britain July 31, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 101-349) This invention relates to inking systems for printing machines, and has for one object to provide improved arrangements of inking rollers to produce thin and even films of ink on printing plates.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for automatically aligning and adjusting the pressure with which ink distributing rollers bear upon each roller of pairs of non-mating rollers with which they are adapted to co-act.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for readily throwing ink distributing rollers out of contact with pairs of non-mating rollers with which they are adapted to co act and to provide self-aligning idler rollers capable of being readily withdrawn from and replaced in the assembly to a predetermined loading.

According to this invention an inking system for printing machines of the type including a plurality of inking rollers is characterized in that ink is transferred from one roller of a pair of parallel non-mating rollers or drums through the medium of at least one self-aligning idler roller in contact with both said non-mating rollers, but asymmetrically arranged with respect to their centres.

Preferably, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers is provided, one to each side of the said pair of non-mating rollers.

Preferably also one of the pair of parallel non-mating rollers or drums is rotated by a gear drive from the printing machine, and this rotation is imparted frictionally to the second roller or drum of the pair by the idler roller or rollers.

Preferably also, each self-aligning idler roller is mounted in a pair of radial bearing blocks in which it is free to rise and fall and to twist radially.

Preferably also, the radial bearing blocks are mounted within complementary parallel cavities in the ends of a pair of pivoted caliper arms.

In systems according to the invention, it is desirable to ensure that the idler rollers can be adjusted readily to produce a constant thickness of ink film throughout the width of all rollers in the system. Sometimes it is necessary to withdraw an idler roller for servicing and to replace it, and for this reason the invention sets out to provide a self-aligning roller system that can be disengaged rapidly and re-engaged at will to a predetermined loading. The idler rollers are mounted on pairs of pivoted caliper arms, so that a load can be applied to the system, and so that the idler rollers can be thrown out of contact with the non-mating rollers when necessary. In order to avoid binding tendencies caused by misaligna ment which would hinder the withdrawal and replacement of idler rollers, the invention includes a construction which permits a limited amount of side-to-side twist of the idler roller shafts.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which FIGURE 1 is a fragmental view of a part of one side on an inking unit, FIGURE 2 depicts an enlarged view of one of the radial bearing blocks included in FIGURE 1, and FIG- URE 3 illustrates diagrammatically the invention in its relationship to the complete inking system of a printing machine.

It should be noted that, apart from the operating ice 2 handle and its relevant gear reduction, the mechanism is identical on both sides of the machine, and, therefore, a description of one side only will be given.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the inking unit consists of a pair of frame plates, one of which is shown at 1. These are suitably braced and mounted on the main frames of the machine.

A primary ink distribution roller 2 is freely mounted on a shaft 3 which is supported in the frame plates 1. A secondary ink distribution roller 4 is positively driven by means not shown. A pair of intermediate ink distribution idler rollers 5 and 6 are mounted on shafts 7 and 8 arranged to run in radial bearing blocks 9 and 10. One of these bearing blocks is illustrated in FIG- URE 2 and includes a cylindrical vertical surf-ace with two parallel straight sides and bored at 11, at right angles to the straight sides, to receive the ends of the shafts carrying the rollers. A central hole 12 is provided to facilitate lubrication.

The bearing blocks are located within complementary parallel cylindrical recesses machined out of the ends of two caliper arms 13 and 14 in such a manner that they are free to rise andfall and also to rotate about an axis at right angles to the bore 11. The caliper arms are arranged to pivot about two rigidly mounted pins, one of which is shown at 15, secured to the frame by means of nuts. The lower ends of the caliper arms are recessed at 16 and house roller cam-followers 17 and 18 mounted on pins 19 and 20. The cam-followers are arranged to co-act with the outer surface of a cam 21 fast with a control shaft 22 journalled in the frame plates 1.

The control shaft 22 is arranged to pass through the frame plate 1 and has fa'st therewith a worm wheel 24. A shaft 25 and a worm 26 are carried in a suitable bearing bracket (not shown) and arranged to mesh with the worm wheel 24. An extension shaft 28 running in a bearing bracket 30 and mounting a calibrated handwheel 29 is connected to the shaft 25 by means of a coupling 27.

In FIGURE 3 items already described carry the same numerals as in FIGURE 1. 31, driven independently, receives ink from a fountain 32 and transfers it to the primary distribution roller 2 by means of a resilient transfer roller 3-3.carried on a lever 34 mounted on a shaft 35. the lever 34 is connected to the impression cylinder operating mechanism of the machine (of known construction and forming no part of this invention) by a linkage system (not shown) and is operated thereby in accordance with the known printing cycle. Ink is then conveyed to the secondary distribution roller 4 by means of the two self-aligning resilient idler transfer rollers 5 and 6. ink in an evenly distributed film is transferred from the .roller 4 to a resilient oscillating transfer roller 36 and thence to a printing plate surface 37, also in known manner.

The intermediate resilient rollers 5 and 6 are free to slide within the bearing blocks 9 and 10 in such a way that they centralise themselves automatically between the two arcs of contact of the distribution rollers 2 and 4. This automatic adjustment is brought about by the sliding of the bearing blocks 8 and 9 in their respective parallel guides until a state of equilibrium exists and a selected pressure will thus be applied between rollers 5 and 6, and the distribution rollers 2 and 4.

Movement of the caliper arms 13 and 14 is brought about by rotation of the cam 21 by operation of the handle 29. The cam is profiled to give a rapid rise followed by a gradual increase to a maximum, thereby to provide a rapid initial positioning and then a fine pressure adjustment when the machine is in operation.

An ink duct roller The lower end of Each side of the cam is equally and oppositely phased so as to give an equivalent outward displacement to the roller-followers 19 and 20, and thus to the caliper arms 13 and 14. The spreading of the loaver ends of the caliper arms causes rotation about the central pivot points and \m'th the result that the rollers and 6 co-act with the distribution rollers 2 and 4.

If it is desired to produce a greater pressure against roller 4 than against roller 2 or vice versa, it is possible to produce any desired ratio of loading by machining the bearing block guide recesses to diverge or converge with respect to the centres of the rollers 2 and 4.

It will be seen that the pressure between the rollers 5 and 6 and the distribution rollers 2 and 4 may be controlled accurately when the machine is working, and that the rollers can be disengaged when required by movement of the caliper arms.

As an alternative arrangement, the caliper arms can be operated by pneumatic or hydraulic power cylinders in place of the double lobed cams.

What is claimed is:

1. An ink distribution system for a printing machine comprising a pair of non-mating rollers having parallel axes, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers having their axes parallel to the axes of said non-mating rollers and engageable therewith on opposite sides of a plane through the axes of said non-mating rollers, and common means for transmitting a force to said idler rollers to move them toward said plane to adjust the pressures between said self-aligning rollers and said non-mating rollers.

2. An ink distribution system for a printing machine comprising a pair of non-mating rollers having parallel axes, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers having their axes parallel to the axes of said non-mating rollers and arranged on opposite sides of a plane passing through the axes of said non-mating rollers and engaging against such rollers to transfer ink between said non-mating rollers, bearing-supported spindles on which said idler rollers are mounted, a shaft extending between the ends of the machine, identical ca ms carried by the ends of said shaft, manually operable means for turning said shaft to adjust the position of said cam, and a pair of levers at each end of the machine having one end supporting the spindle of the associated roller, said levers being pivotally supported intermediate their ends, the other end of each of said levers having a cam follower engaging one of said cams whereby rotation of said earns moves said idler rollers toward or away from said plane to adjust the pressure of said idler rollers against said non-mating rollers.

3. An ink distribution system for a printing machine comprising a pair of non-mating rollers having parallel axes, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers having their axes parallel to the axes of said non-mating rollers and engageable therewith on opposite sides of a plane through the axes of said non-mating rollers, bearings supporting said idler rollers at each end thereof, and manually operable means for applying equal and opposite forces to the bearings of the two idler rollers to move them toward or away from said plane to vary the pressure between said self-aligning rollers and said non-mating rollers.

4. An ink distribution system for a printing machine comprising a pair of non-mating rollers having parallel axes, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers having their axes parallel to the axes of said non-mating rollers and engageable therewith on opposite sides of a plane through the axes of said non-mating rollers, bearings supporting said idler rollers at each end thereof, identical lever means connected to the bearings of said idler rollers, and identical cams for turning said levers to an equal extent to move said idler rollers toward or away from said plane to vary the pressure of said idler rollers against said non-mating rollers.

5. An ink distribution system for a printing machine comprising a pair of non-mating rollers having parallel axes, a pair of self-aligning idler rollers having their axes parallel to the axes of said non-mating rollers and arranged on opposite sides of a plane passing through the axes of said non-mating rollers and engaging against such rollers to transfer ink between said nonmating rollers, bearing-supported spindles on which said idler rollers are mounted, a shaft extending between the ends of the machine, identical cams carried by the ends of said shaft, manually operable means for turning said shaft to adjust the position of said cam, a pair of levers at each end of the machine having one end supporting the spindle of the associated roller, said levers being pivotally supported intermediate their ends, the other end of each of said levers having a cam follower engaging one of said cams whereby rotation of said cams moves said idler rollers toward or away from said plane to adjust the pressure of said idler rollers against said non-mating rollers, a worm wheel carried by said shaft, and a manually rotatable worm engaging said worm wheel to rotate it to adjust the positions of said cams.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,162,812 Harrold et al. June 20, 1939 2,202,780 Kaufiman May 28, 1940 2,634,964 Cooper Apr. 14, 1953 2,751,843 Faeber June 26, 1956 2,774,299 Chase Dec. 18, 1956 

